İlker Çatak

İlker Çatak (born 11 January 1984; Berlin) is a Turkish-German director. İlker Çatak was born in Berlin in 1984 and later lived in Istanbul where he completed high school. İlker studied Film Directing in Berlin and Hamburg, graduating in 2014 at Hamburg Media School. His graduation film SADAKAT received many international awards before winning the Student Academy Award in Gold in 2015. İlker’s first feature film, ONCE UPON A TIME INDIANERLAND debuted in 2017 and is an adaptation of the award-winning youth novel ‘Es war einmal Indianerland’ by Nils Mohl. İlker’s second feature film I WAS, I AM, I WILL BE (2019) received the Bronze Lola at the German Film Awards. His feature film STAMBUL GARDEN was released in Germany in autumn 2021 and also selected at the German Film Awards. İlker’s other projects include directing an episode on the TV show TATORT. His latest film THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE will have its world premiere at the 73. Berlin Film Festival and hit theatres in May 2023.

Old School (2013)

Thomas is a pickpocket and he's good at it. When he meets Violca, he changes targets. Unfortunately, he also stole from her.  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Johannes Klausner  •  Monika Wegener  •  Arwed Fleischer  •  Georg Lippert

Thomas is a pickpocket and he's good at it. When he meets Violca, he changes targets. Unfortunately, he also stole from her.  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Johannes Klausner  •  Monika Wegener  •  Arwed Fleischer  •  Georg Lippert

Fidelity (2014)

Istanbul 2014: Aslı gives shelter to a young political activist, who got into a fight with the police. The police investigates the case and ends up questioning Aslı's family. Her husband gets drawn into the affair. Their lives, and also their son's, start to become ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Sanem Öge  •  Özer Arslan  •  Barış Gönenen  •  Mustafa Uzunyılmaz

Istanbul 2014: Aslı gives shelter to a young political activist, who got into a fight with the police. The police investigates the case and ends up questioning Aslı's family. Her husband gets drawn into the affair. Their lives, and also their son's, start to become ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Sanem Öge  •  Özer Arslan  •  Barış Gönenen  •  Mustafa Uzunyılmaz

Once Upon a Time in Indian Country (2017)

A wild genre mix between a boxer film, urban western, road movie and music video, set at end of the summer holidays in a drab neighborhood in the outskirts of Hamburg suburbia. Young boxing talent Mauser is preparing for a pivotal competition when his father kills ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Leonard Scheicher  •  Emilia Schüle  •  Johanna Polley  •  Clemens Schick

A wild genre mix between a boxer film, urban western, road movie and music video, set at end of the summer holidays in a drab neighborhood in the outskirts of Hamburg suburbia. Young boxing talent Mauser is preparing for a pivotal competition when his father kills ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Leonard Scheicher  •  Emilia Schüle  •  Johanna Polley  •  Clemens Schick

I Was, I Am, I Will Be (2019)

While Kurdish gigolo Baran dreams of a future in Europe, German pilot Marion is struggling to come to terms with her cancer diagnosis. When the two meet at the Turkish holiday resort of Marmaris, they engage in a kind of double-cross and decide to enter into a sham ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Godehard Giese  •  Oğulcan Arman Uslu  •  Anne Ratte-Polle  •  Katharina Behrens

While Kurdish gigolo Baran dreams of a future in Europe, German pilot Marion is struggling to come to terms with her cancer diagnosis. When the two meet at the Turkish holiday resort of Marmaris, they engage in a kind of double-cross and decide to enter into a sham ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Godehard Giese  •  Oğulcan Arman Uslu  •  Anne Ratte-Polle  •  Katharina Behrens

Stambul Garden (2021)

Janik and Samuel are best friends and enjoy the end of high school. Their worlds are different: Janik has parents who always do everything right, while Samuel comes from a broken home. Samuel wants order, Janik wants chaos. A thoughtless moment puts the close bond ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Katharina Behrens  •  Nicole Marischka  •  Godehard Giese  •  Oğulcan Arman Uslu

Janik and Samuel are best friends and enjoy the end of high school. Their worlds are different: Janik has parents who always do everything right, while Samuel comes from a broken home. Samuel wants order, Janik wants chaos. A thoughtless moment puts the close bond ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Katharina Behrens  •  Nicole Marischka  •  Godehard Giese  •  Oğulcan Arman Uslu

The Teachers’ Lounge (2023)

When one of her students is suspected of theft, teacher Carla Nowak decides to get to the bottom of the matter. Caught between her ideals and the school system, the consequences of her actions threaten to break her.  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Leonie Benesch  •  Anne-Kathrin Gummich  •  Leonard Stettnisch  •  Eva Löbau

When one of her students is suspected of theft, teacher Carla Nowak decides to get to the bottom of the matter. Caught between her ideals and the school system, the consequences of her actions threaten to break her.  (more)

DIRECTION:  İlker Çatak
CAST:  Leonie Benesch  •  Anne-Kathrin Gummich  •  Leonard Stettnisch  •  Eva Löbau